Nyilyari is the second son of the well-known artist Pinta Pinta Tjapanangka and the younger brother of Matthew Tjapangati. He was born in approximately 1965. Nyilyari completed his first paintings for Papunya Tula Artists as early as 1999 but didn't begin painting regularly until 2004. His paintings relate to sites around Kaakuratintja (Lake MacDonald) and west to Mt Webb and Wilkinkarra (Lake Mackay). These are all sites that were commonly referred to in his father's country.

COLLECTIONS
Araluen Art Centre
National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
National Gallery of Victoria
Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Toledo Musuem of Art, Toledo, Ohio, USA